


Taming a Wild River

by Rinkafic



Series: Telpa 'verse [7]
Category: Firefly, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/F, M/M, Stargate Atlantis AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-16
Updated: 2011-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-23 18:56:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: Slave!fic, minor BDSM</p><p>Sassa Zoe is at the end of her wits dealing with the telpa, River.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taming a Wild River

“I do not care for your wants or desires, River. You belong to me. You belong to this House. You are here to serve MY clients. That means, you arrogant, troublesome, flighty little telpa, that you will do as the client asks you to do, without question. If you ever, ever, EVER raise a hand to a client in this House, that day will be your last. Do you understand me?”

River blinked a few times and then nodded before tilting her head and fixing her gaze on a spot beyond Zoe’s shoulder. The Sassa took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to control her rage. She slowly let it out, counting in her head and breathing slowly. If it had been any other telpa but River, she would have already carried out the threat of permanent bodily harm. What was she thinking? If it had been any other telpa; this incident wouldn’t have happened.

It was zercs badly spent on this one. Zoe regretted the impulse purchase of the pretty but problematic telpa. Unfortunately, the training sessions at Bardero Parr’ish had been cut short with the assassination attempt on Wrin Parr’ish, who was now upstairs mending in Zoe’s own bed. If the man wasn’t still so weak from his injury, Zoe would have asked him to personally take River in hand during his recuperation here.

She pushed the heavy fall of curls back from her face and leaned down to look into River’s face. She had to catch the girl’s chin to force her to look back at her. “I demand a penance, River. The client demanded more, he wanted to see you flayed in public. I had to give him Kaylee for a full moon to keep him from bringing charges. I will not have one of my telpa displayed in public like that; it would bring disgrace on this House. You have cost me my best body telpa, my most popular girl, for an entire moon.”

“Penance?”

Thank the Goddess; something of what Zoe had said had gotten through to the girl! “Yes. You behaved very, very badly. Kaylee is bearing the brunt of what you did. You must be punished. What will you do for penance?”

River tilted her head the other way, a puzzled look on her face. Perhaps making her come up with her own punishment would help. But then the telpa shrugged and that hope dissipated. Zoe threw her hands up and grabbed River by the shoulder. She dragged her to the linen room beside the kitchen and shoved her through the door. River landed on the pile of dirty sheets in the corner. “Stay there! Just, stay there until I figure this out!” Zoe slammed the door and glanced up at the ceiling. David Parr’ish might not be up to disciplining the errant telpa himself, but he could certainly give Zoe some advice. With new determination, she went to the stairs.

She pushed open the door and was relieved to see that her guest was awake, sitting up against the pillows, reading. His body telpa were not in evidence, Zoe wondered where the three of them had gone off to. Moving closer to the bed, Zoe then noticed that Lorne was actually there, curled up on the bed beside David, hidden from view by the pillows and blankets. David’s hand was casually, absently stroking the sleeping telpa’s hair. Zoe wondered if the Wrin was aware he was doing it.

“David?”

He looked up from the book. “Ah, Zoe, my lovely night-skinned savior, what brings you… and with such a troubled expression?”

“That telpa. Again. River.”

“I heard; nasty business. Nasty for business. Where did she get the knife? She is clearly beyond my Laura’s ability to train or handle. I sent Laura and Ranil to fetch Max from my Bardero. If anyone can straighten her out, it will be him.”

“Thank you, David. That eases my mind somewhat, but what to do in the meantime? I demanded penance from her and she wouldn’t comply.”

“I think it likely she cannot. There is something odd about that one, Zoe.”

“I should just sell her.” David was shaking his head at that idea. “Then what do I do with her?”

“Well, let Max have a go at her. If that doesn’t work, sell her to the breeding houses, it would be the only thing left to do with her. At least recoup some of the coin you laid out for the girl. But first, you have to settle up with her.”

“What do you mean?”

Lorne shifted in his sleep and mumbled against David’s thigh, distracting the Wrin momentarily. He made a shushing sound and rubbed Lorne’s shoulder before turning to Zoe. “She offended you. What she did here, in your House, was a personal affront to you. That is why you are still seething about it. You have to get over that.”

Zoe sank into the chair near the bed, thoughtfully watching David as she considered his words. “I think you may be right.”

“I know I’m right. The troublesome ones can take it out of a Trainer if they are not careful, even an experienced Trainer. You invest too much of yourself into the discipline, and when it does not work, it becomes a vicious cycle of never ending failure.”

“You speak from experience?”

He chuckled quietly and nodded. “I was the troublesome one that nearly broke Bardero Parr’ish’s best Trainer.”

“You? You almost broke Virell Max? I don’t understand. You’re the Wrin.”

He tilted his head back against the pillows and stared at the canopy over the bed. “Every Trainer at Bardero Parr’ish goes through telpa training. I’ve worked the fields, the vineyards and the stables as a field telpa, I’ve been in the scullery, the laundry, and changed the bedding with the house telpa and I have done everything a body telpa could possibly be called upon to do, all in the name of training. I didn’t want to do it. My father insisted. I was punished hard and punished often for the slightest of infractions. It took a year for Max to find the balance between teaching me and keeping my father’s malicious whims satisfied.”

“I had no idea.”

“Of course not, I don’t make a habit of telling people my personal business, or at least I didn’t until these three came into my life.” He caressed Lorne’s cheek, and Zoe understood in that moment that the Wrin of Bardero Parr’ish cared far, far more deeply for the man beside him than she would have ever thought it possible for him to do. She had known David for a long time, had always considered him a friend. And now she was seeing a different side of him.

She shook her head to clear it, sending her dark curls flying into disarray. She pushed the heavy hair back and asked, “What do you recommend?”

“You need a different method to reach this one. Make her pleasure you.”

“I prefer men for my pleasures, David, you know that.”

“This isn’t about your desire, specifically. This is about control, about power.”

She sat back against the chair cushion with a thud. He was correct. She had been going about this the wrong way, treating River like a naughty child. When she looked at this instead as a power struggle between herself and River, and examined recent incidents, she saw clearly that it was a bigger battle being waged, and River was winning.

“Thank you for your most helpful and welcome advice, David. And for sharing your confidences. Believe me; this conversation will remain between us.”

“And Lorne. He hears everything.”

“He’s sleeping.”

“Is he? Are you sure about that?”

She rolled her eyes and gave a small snort as she waved towards Lorne. “I was watching him, David.”

Without moving to shake the telpa, David said, “Lorne, where’s Laura, what is the problem with River and what should Sassa Zoe do about it?”

Raising his head and resting his chin on David’s thigh, he blinked sleepily at Zoe and recited, “Laura and Ranil went home to fetch Max. This evening, River tried to knife a client that asked her to do something she didn’t want to do. You were the bane of Max’s existence for a year. And you think that Zoe should fuck River into submission.” He looked up at David and smirked.

Cuffing him lightly on the side of the head and then scratching behind Lorne’s ear, David smirked and remarked with a little pride, “Close enough. Lorne’s my bodyguard, Zoe. He’s more aware of what is going on around here when he’s asleep than most people are when they are awake.”

“So I see,” she went to the door, thinking about how to go about this.

“Good luck with your problem.”

“Thank you David. Good night.”

~*~

“Come out of there,” Zoe ordered sharply as she held the linen room door open.

River moved slowly, but kept her head down in proper subservience as she skirted around Zoe.

“I’ve decided what your penance shall be. You will sleep in my bed.”

The telpa’s head snapped up and she looked baffled. Good, Zoe needed her off-center in order to get control back.

“You will serve as my personal body telpa.” Watching David with his three body telpa had opened Zoe’s eyes a bit in the past cycles. “This will be your penance; this is how you will repay the harm you have caused.”

Chewing her lip nervously, River nodded slowly. Zoe noticed that the girl was, for the first time in recent memory, completely and totally present and paying attention to her. Good. This was off to a very good start.

“Yes, Sassa Zoe,” River said in a demure voice, meeting Zoe’s stare and suddenly looking away. A very good start indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Huh. I usually add two new telpa commands each story. This one didn't seem to warrant a new one. Or the use of any, for that matter. A telpa tale with no Dal, no Rer, no Fet!


End file.
